GM. This is Milk Road, the crypto newsletter hotter than a mining rig in a studio apartment.
Hereβs a taste of this weekβs menu:
- π₯ Ethereum is outdated tech.
- π₯΅ AI is a bigger threat to Bitcoin than quantum.
- πΆοΈ Hedge funds are set up for a squeeze.
Every $BTC to $ETH swap is a taxable event. But inside a crypto IRA, it generally isn't. Here's how Roth and Traditional crypto IRAs work (and the catches).
HOT TAKES OF THE WEEK π₯
Ethereum is outdated tech π΄
George Tung (Founder of CryptosRUs) didn't hold back on ETHβ¦
He says Solana already beats Ethereum on almost every metric that matters (transactions, volume, revenue), and the only thing keeping ETH ahead on TVL is that USDT and USDC mostly live there.
His bigger gripe is that Ethereum still can't scale on its own, which is why the L2s exist.
And from a price standpoint, he reckons people would rather just hold ARB than ETH.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
AI is a bigger threat to Bitcoin than quantum π€
Lyn Alden (Founder of Lyn Alden Investment Strategy) thinks Bitcoin's bottom is likely in, since most of the money that would sell for any reason already has.
But thereβs a risk that's now leapfrogged quantum on her worry list: AI stumbling onto a novel math solution that breaks cryptography.
Quantum needs a ton of money and hardware to pull off, while a math breakthrough (in theory) could show up next week.
Lyn says if Bitcoin's core cryptography survives the next ~6 months of AI throwing everything at it, the Lindy effect kicks in and the fear starts fading.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
Hedge funds are set up for a squeeze π©³
Melvin (AI Analyst at Milk Road PRO) dug into the Goldman data on the recent tech sell-off and learned that hedge funds dumped stocks at the fastest pace in a decade, shorts outpaced longs roughly 5 to 1, and short leverage hit the 99th percentile of the last five years.
Melvin says that when shorts get that crowded, it doesn't take much to force a cover.
Meaning that strong earnings, a less hawkish Fed or more good AI news could send things ripping.
He thinks it's already starting, pointing to someone loading up on ~70,000 January Apple calls (~$570M in delta exposure).
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
HOW MUCH OF YOUR BITCOIN GAINS DOES THE IRS GET?
Say you buy Bitcoin to hold for 20 years. Solid plan. Then one day you sell.
At the top federal bracket, long-term gains can be taxed at up to 23.8% (20% capital gains plus the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax). Trade along the way and short-term gains can be taxed at up to 37%.
And in a normal account, almost everything counts. Swapping $BTC for $ETH is a taxable event. So is rebalancing. Ugh.
A crypto IRA changes because trades inside the account generally don't trigger taxes. With a Roth crypto IRA, qualified withdrawals in retirement can come out tax-free.
We broke down how it works: Roth vs. Traditional, the 2026 contribution limits, how custody works when you can't hold your own keys, and all those little catches (income limits, no tax-loss harvesting, early withdrawal penalties).
Read the crypto IRA breakdown β
HOT TAKES OF THE WEEK (P2) π₯
Galaxy is cheaper than its own balance sheet π¦
Kyle Reidhead (Head of Research at Milk Road) thinks Galaxy is one of the most mispriced stocks in crypto.
Before this week's 10% pop, the whole company was valued at ~$6.5B while sitting on ~$6.6B in cash, stablecoins, treasuries and investments (yes, there's some debt in there too).
Kyle's theory is that Wall Street analysts model forward off the last few quarters, which look ugly after a bear market, and completely miss how fast volumes and AUM explode once a bull run kicks in.
Analysts just cut their targets to $20-24. Kyle's sitting at $30-45.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
Elon is Nvidia's best customer and next rival βοΈ
Vincent (Lead AI Researcher at Milk Road PRO) laid out Jensen Huang's awkward Elon problem.
To hit his compute targets, Elon needs ~40% of Nvidia's chips, and Jensen might be tempted since the hyperscalers are building their own chips anyway.
Except Elon is also building TeraFab to make his own chips. Vincent says Elonβs plan is to pay rocket engineers 20% more to throw up data center shells as fast as possible, then fill them with homegrown chips once TeraFab comes online.
Meanwhile, SpaceX can already charge up to 25% more per GW than the neoclouds thanks to spot pricing.
ποΈ Listen to the full episode here.
SEE WHAT INSIDERS OWN
The biggest investors in the world leave a paper trailβ¦
β¦but it's scattered across SEC filings, political disclosures and block explorers.
So we pulled it all into one place: Insider Portfolios, now live on Milk Road.
Track Vitalik Buterin, Warren Buffett, Nvidia, Nancy Pelosi and more:
- See every position they hold, plus what they've added or sold lately.
- Click any coin or stock to see which insiders own it.
- Get an email the next time they make a move.
The best part? Your account is already set up.
To turn on free Insider Portfolio alerts, simply sign in and click the bell notification icon on your preferred Insider page.
π Sign in here to access Insider Portfolio alerts.
BITE-SIZED COOKIES FOR THE ROAD πͺ
Venice AI reportedly makes $150M+ a year: It processes 500B AI tokens daily, and the revenue funds VVV buybacks and burns.
ETH ETFs lost $1.32B in October: Bitcoin ETFs lost just $26M, even though ETH funds hold $14.2B against $104B for BTC funds.
Hyperliquid doesnβt need an altcoin season: The bull case for HYPE is deep liquidity pulling in traders, platforms building on top, and fees funding buybacks.
